


Out of the Fog

by Jain



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Episode 159, Episode Tag, M/M, POV Third Person, Past Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21793810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: Jon leads Martin out of the Lonely. Or perhaps the other way around.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 4
Kudos: 81
Collections: Rusty Quill Secret Santa 2019





	Out of the Fog

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elfentruthed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfentruthed/gifts).



It took longer to escape the Lonely than Jon would've expected. Not that time had much meaning in there, but they walked and walked and _walked_ , dense fog swirling about them and muffling all sound, until it felt like they were the only two people in the world. He kept a tight grip on Martin's hand--colder than it should be, but still far warmer than anything else in that dismal place.

He tried to concentrate on his feelings for Martin, let them open the way back home, but it was surprisingly difficult when Martin was right there beside him. Their path kept looping back on itself to dead-end twelve inches to Jon's left.

After an interminable length of time, he became aware that he was bracing for a quietly sarcastic comment at his failure to deliver on his promise. What he actually got was worse: silence.

A quick glance to his side assuaged his fears slightly. Martin looked blank but _present_ , and his hand felt solid in Jon's grasp. If Jon spoke to him now, there was a good chance he would respond. Jon might not even have to compel him.

That wasn't what Martin needed, though. It might reassure Jon temporarily, but it wouldn't help them escape. So Jon stopped thinking about the cold, silent Martin walking beside him and instead started remembering all of the times Martin had been the most himself. Bringing Jon tea in his office, sharing a joke with Sasha and Tim in the break room, organizing birthday cards every time a member of staff had a significant birthday...Martin caring about people. Martin being very far from the Lonely.

The fog rolled away from them in a wave, and there was once again a proper, albeit cold and misty, path. They stepped forward another several paces, and the path ended. They were back in the Panopticon.

Martin looked around the room with a vaguely troubled expression. "Where'd Elias go?"

"I don't know," Jon said, and knew in the answering that it was true. Elias had disappeared, and Jon couldn't see or See him.

He could see Jonah Magnus's body, though, still seated in the center of that magnificent circular room with its hallways extending out in improbable directions: the expected radius of them, as well as a ceiling honeycombed with more hallways, and even a few hallways cutting at odd angles through the floor. Staring with empty eye sockets, his body unmoving and undecayed.

"Should we kill him?" Martin asked.

Jon shook his head. "You'll almost certainly die if we do." The thoughtful look on Martin's face didn't change, and Jon squeezed his hand tighter, trying to shake him out of whatever fugue he'd fallen into. " _Martin._ Whatever claim the Lonely had on you is gone now. If Jonah dies, so will you. Along with Daisy and Basira, and Rosie, and all the rest of the Institute staff." Those who hadn't died already that day, anyway.

"Could be worth it."

Jon had said as much himself, the last time he'd stood in this room, but even then he'd known he was needling Elias for a reaction more than issuing a serious threat. How much more obvious was that when Martin was stood there beside him; Martin, who'd so recently almost been lost forever.

"No, it wouldn't," he said, his voice harsh.

Martin turned to him, apparently in surprise, and Jon squeezed his hand again. "Let's just go. We'll find some other way to stop Elias--or Jonah, or whatever you want to call him."

"This way is easier," Martin said in a hesitant tone.

"Nothing that involves you dying is _easier,_ Martin."

Martin frowned at him, but this wasn't the time for an argument. Jon turned them both away from Jonah's blind stare. "Come on. The Institute was under attack when I came down here. We should find out what's been happening."

"The thing that killed Sasha," Martin said, wincing a little.

"Plus Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk were shooting up the place. It's been...an eventful day."

Martin shook his head. "And in the middle of all _that,_ you followed me into the Lonely?" Jon opened his mouth to respond, and then Martin said, " _Why?_ "

Jon's mind stuttered to a halt.

He looked at Martin more carefully--Martin, who was staring at him with an incredulity so profound it bordered on anger.

"Because I had to," Jon said at last. "I mean, I risked as much for Daisy, back when I didn't even like her. How could I not do the same for you?"

Martin still looked more than a bit disbelieving, but the almost-anger vanished, and he even managed a snort of amusement. "Please tell me you at least went straight for the tape recorders this time, rather than removing any more body parts."

Jon shook his head. "All I ever needed to escape the Lonely was you."

After everything, he still couldn't make himself say the words _I love you,_ but judging by the look of stunned joy that washed across Martin's face just then, he knew exactly what Jon meant.


End file.
